


Corefest

by Elf (Elfwreck)



Category: 3Below (Cartoon), Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Aliens, Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, Fictional Holidays, Gen, Gift Fic, Royalty, akiridion 5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 15:55:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29669664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elfwreck/pseuds/Elf
Summary: This is the first time she's been here without her parents. First time without Krel by her side. First time she's been the whole royal family on her own.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5
Collections: Purimgifts 2021





	Corefest

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hagar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hagar/gifts).



"My queen, you must wake up." Varvatos Vex stood in her doorway and spoke very insistently at her.

"I am awake," Aja replied.

"You do not look awake. Your eyes are closed."

"I'm… thinking."

"You do not need to think. You need to get up and get to the power hub before midnight." 

"I'm pretty sure I need to think in order to do that." 

She could feel Varvatos glaring at her even with her eyes closed. So she got up.

"Is everything ready?"

"Yes, my queen." 

"You don't have to call me that."

"Until the queen gives Varvatos Vex another title, Varvatos Vex will continue to call her _queen_."

Aja sighed. She supposed that was true. He couldn't call her Queen-in-Waiting anymore; she wasn't waiting for anything. She was just… Queen. It still didn't seem real. She still had trouble believing she was in charge, believing that people trusted her to lead them.

Corefest started tonight at midnight, and she had to make it work.

~~

An hour before midnight, she made the walk to the central hub in silence. She walked past the crowds on the edges of the slidewalks, packed full but so quiet. Varvatos Vex escorted her, a little behind and to the left, as she walked past the military troops in formation. She almost faltered as they dropped to one knee, Varvatos's steady pace gave her something to match, so she did. She walked past the technicians who kept the central hub running, who routed power to the people of Akiridion 5.

…It was a myth, these days, that the central hub actually processed all power for the planet. That was long in the past; no such vulnerability existed now. But tonight, she _felt_ like she was walking to the planet's core, to the one place that brought life and energy to her entire homeworld.

Eventually, she reached the central power chamber, blue and gleaming and bright, and Varvatos stopped at the doorway.

"I will wait for you here, my queen," he said softly. 

She nodded. Only royals entered the power chamber during Corefest. The huge pillar of light in the tube in the center was almost blinding, but she walked toward it.

The last time she'd been in this room, she'd had two parents and a brother with her. This is the first time she's been here without her parents. First time without Krel by her side. First time she's been the whole royal family on her own. 

The crystalline tube had a door with four handles. All four needed to be gripped with the same energy signature to open the door: only a royal could access the core energy pillar of the central hub.

First time she'd done this, too. Her parents had always taken turns, before.

She gripped all four handles, and looked up, following the flow of the pale blue light up until it disappeared in the distant ceiling. She spoke, knowing she was being watched, knowing her words would be broadcast all over the planet.

"People of Akiridion 5… I am Aja of House Tarron, your queen." She stopped, trying to remember the next words.

"It is the duty of the royal family"—her voice caught as she remembered her parents' sacrifice—"to face the darkness, and to dedicate their cores to the protection and well-being of their people."

  
  


With that, she opened the door, and the blue light immediately started to fade. She watched it grow smaller and more faint until it was just a glowing sigil in the center, no light filling the tube.

Blackness spread out from the hub: buildings went dark; hovercars stopped in mid-air; homes powered down. Aja knew there were emergency services still running, but aside from those, everything went still and dark and quiet. 

When the room itself turned dark, when the faint light on the floor of the tube and her own core were the only lights in the room, Aja stepped inside. 

She knelt over the center of the faintly glowing circuitry, and said the rest of the oath.

"I, Aja of House Tarron, dedicate my core to your service and safety. May the light of my core be a shield against the darkness and a beacon to guide you home."

And with that, she touched her core with one hand, and the central rune with another. A spark flickered in her chest and jumped down her arm, lighting up the circuitry. Aja leapt out of the center, all the way out of the door, before the light started to reach upward - because once it started, it would destroy everything in its path. 

The pillar of blue light roared to life, reaching the edge of the tube just as she slammed the door shut. All over Akiridion 5, light returned to fill the darkness as their queen stepped out of the core chamber. 


End file.
